ACLU Sues for Documents on Treatment of Juan Cole

The ACLU of Michigan is suing the federal government to get access to all documents from multiple agencies that have to do with the alleged surveillance of University of Michigan professor Juan Cole.

Last month former CIA agent Glenn Carle told the New York Times that the Bush administration asked the CIA to dig up information on Cole, a critic of the Iraq war, that they could use to discredit him. The CIA is forbidden from spying on American citizens.

In a press release Zachary Katznelson, senior staff attorney for the ACLU's National Security Project, said, "The government cannot investigate Americans for simply exercising their First Amendment right to criticize the president or his policies. As U.S. citizens, we all have the right to express our opinions without fear of having the CIA or FBI digging into our private lives if the government doesn't like what we're saying."